In November 2015, I traveled through North- and South-Kivu, DR Congo. I photographed and interviewed staff members and beneficiaries involved in some of the projects of Oxfam Novib and its local partners. The result of this work is published in a booklet that aims to show the impact, challenges and lessons learned of Oxfam Novib. Taking as point of view the lives of communities and more particularly the households in North- and South-Kivu in DRC.

Eastern Congo is known as the Rape Capital of the World. A country where sexual violence is at the order of the day and among the most heinous in the world. Warring parties, including the Congolese army, use it as a weapon of war. It is strategically used to shame, demoralize and humiliate the enemy. By doing so armed groups assert power and domination over not only the women, but their men as well. And because it often goes unpunished, there is a rise in citizens committing rape.

"I was a violent man. I hit my wife when she did not obey me fast enough. I never helped her with the housework because I always considered that a woman’s job. In our culture we see a woman as an object, a tool we can use. But I am a changed man now. The We Can campaign made me realize I was wrong,” says Papa Longa.

To provide assistance where needed, Oxfam closely works together with local partner organizations. These organizations know the local culture and context like none other and have access to remote areas. They are there to stay. Many of these organisations implement programs addressing poverty via microfinance support and agricultural professionalization support. Programs that improve both the standard of living and economic self-sufficiency, as well as offering a pathway to education, health care and equality between men and women. But in the face of recurrent crises they also reach out to communities to deliver humanitarian assistance.

In July 2015, I traveled through North- and South-Kivu, DR Congo. I photographed and interviewed staff members and beneficiaries involved in some of the projects of Oxfam Novib. The result of this work is a booklet that aims to show the impact, challenges and lessons learned of Oxfam Novib and its local partners’ work. Taking as point of view the lives of communities and more particularly the households in North- and South-Kivu in DRC.

Together with her seven children and thousands of other villagers Patience fled from her home in October 2014. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels attacked her village in the Mavivi area in orth Kivu and massacred the population with machetes. More than 250 people were killed, including Patience's husband. Patience was forced to flee and leave everything behind during the rebel attack.

Until a few years ago a dozen houses stood at the foot of a hill in Beu, outside the city of Beni. Now only with weeds overgrown plateaus remember of the neighbourhood. The hill, which consists mainly of sand and rock formations, was a great danger to residents. "A large rock destroyed the house of my neighbour during heavy rainfall. After this I was terrified it would also happen to us," says Kambale Bulambo, a father of five.

The people of the Manguredjipa region in North-Kivu call the professionalization of their palm oil industry a revolution. For decades they have made use of the numerous palm trees growing in the wild. But the exploitation and organization of their activities was amateurish. What began as a project of the Centre d’Animation pour la Culture et le Développement de Kirumba (CACUDEKI) to help the palm oil farmers to generate higher incomes grew to entail much more. Now the project involves the whole community and has potential to lift the region out of poverty.

Before Sakina Masuruko got involved in the Ligue des Organisations des Femmes Paysannes du Congo (LOFEPACO) program in 2009, she lived an insignificant life she says. "I really did not do much and felt rather useless. The people in the community looked down on me." An attitude that changed completely. Full of enthusiasm and confidence, the passionate Sakina talks about her successes in recent years. Successes that would not have been possible without the help of LOFEPACO.

The absence of a good market for the corn farmers in Luvungo forced them to sell their maize to buyers in Rwanda. Once it was processed into flour, they would buy it back for a higher price. Not surprisingly, the farmers were hardly making a profit. They lacked the skills, knowledge and cooperation to professionalize their farming activities. The Union Paysanne pour le Développement Intégral (UPDI), a local partner organization of Oxfam Novib, was determined to bring change in the life of these farmers. They helped them to professionalize and to unite them into cooperatives.